Matt and Ramona Show September 4th 6:20
This Friday Help Bags is selected to be featured on Charlotte radio’s Matt and Ramona Show (107.9 The Link ) at 6:20!! Please tune in to hear the Link Leading Lady portion generously sponsored by the YMCA of greater Charlotte and Cambria Estate Winery.
If you miss the show just follow this link to …The Link.
3,000 children in Mecklenburg County don’t have homes
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/141/story/902462.html
There are 3,000 children in Mecklenburg County who don’t have homes. This is just a look at one child in one county in one part of the country. This sad story reaches every town in America, yes even yours. Feel led to help in your town or the homeless population in general? There are many ideas throughout this site or feel free to contact us for more ideas.
What a $20 donation to Help Bags looks like
Help Bags $20 donation
240 band-aids and 120 individually wrapped snacks!
That is what a $20 donation to Help Bags looks like. There is no such thing as too big or small a donation. Every item is needed and neccesary. 130 Help Bags will be distributed this week in 2 different counties. Every moist towelette, every band aid, every item makes a difference in getting them out or needing to wait for supplies to come in to distribute.
Thank you everyone who has donated! This week we will break the 500 mark in Help Bag distribution!
What did you do this summer???
This Sunday 100 Help Bags will be passed out totally due to your donations and support!! This will bring the total to nearly 500 Help Bags distributed this summer in 3 counties!! When someone asks what you did this summer – tell them you Helped the homeless one Bag at a time 
Have a great day everyone!!
Big week for the little bags!! We’re in the news
What a big week for our little Help Bags!
Wednesday August 5th the Charlotte Observer featured an article about Help Bags http://www.charlotteobserver.com/408/story/870618.html and on September 4th at 5pm Help Bags will be on the Link Leading Lady section of the Matt and Ramona show on Charlotte radio station 107.9 The Link!! WOWOWOW!!
People have asked me – are you ready for the big increase of donations this could bring? I giggle – you bet we are!!! Big donations = big help for those in need!
If you like to know how you can help Help Bags there is a ton of options!
#1 – Host a Help Bags Drive at your work, school or church. The items needed can be found on this website under the green tab DONATE. These items are:
* individually wrapped snacks like lance crackers, small chip or pretzels bags, etc
* band-aids
* individually wrapped moist towelettes
**** men’s new white socks****
* individually wrapped Tylenol type product ( doesn’t have to be that brand- there are cheaper ones!)
* gallon sized Ziploc (any brand) bags
* hot packs, like those hunters use for feet and hands for the winter months
Items must be individually wrapped so they can be placed in the individual bags for distribution.
#2 Be an Army of one.
The donation you give is the one we need. There is no such thing as too small or too large a donation. 100% of funds and products given to Help Bags go to those in need. The address of where to mail any donations is on the site under the orange Contact Us tab. Or if you are in the Charlotte area I may be able to make arrangements to pick up any item from you. Email psmullen@helpbags.org. The mailing address is:
Help Bags
6012 Bayfield Parkway #211
Concord, NC 28027
#3 Sponsor a Bag in your name or in the name of a friend or loved one! The Sponsor a Bag section can be found on the website under the green DONATE tab as well. There are different quantities to choose from and it is conveniently linked to PayPal.
#4 Prayers, encouragement and support! Tell your friends about Help Bags, www.helpbags.org and join us on Facebook (Help Bags) for frequent updates and happenings!
Gift
Whoever the unnamed angel is that mailed 200 individually wrapped Tylenol to Help Bags – thank you very very much!! Your generous gift will help many people!
Get Out There and Make a Difference!!!
Just a quick note. A moment hit me today when I realized what we have all really done together since the beginning of June. These small bags are being placed directly in the hands of men, women and children who may be sleeping in a dangerous abandoned warehouse or a crowded emergency rescue shelter. They are most likely out of hope and out of easy choices. So far 380 Help Bags have been given out to people in need – THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY!!!! We are almost 100 fans strong on Face Book. The concept of Helping the homeless one Bag at a time stopped being a theory and we are charging ahead watching it unfold right in front of our eyes!
Now stop and ask yourself a tough question. If you lost your job tomorrow, and for some of us that isn’t so tough to imagine. How many missed checks would it take for you to lose your house? Would family take you in? How would you provide for your own family. Yes – they are tough questions no one ever wants to think about but all of a sudden do you see how fast ‘they’ can be ‘us’? Would you be thankful for a bag with a few essentials and snacks?
If you feel like you want to reach out to the homeless community in your town feel free contact me and I will tell you how easy it is to start a Help Bag chapter in your community! I will be glad to share everything I have learned thus far : ) Do you feel like there is another population that can benefit from your time, experience or attention? Animals shelters? Adult literacy? ESL? Your children’s school or activity? Find your passion and get out there!!! Make it a family event! Times are hard for all of us – I literally could walk to my desk tomorrow and not have a job and I have dealt with that for 2 weeks. But I saw first hand 180 people this week that I know are way worse off than I am.
So here is your challenge this week. Think about where you could volunteer an hour or two a week – or a Saturday a month and be brave and ambitious enough to get out there. You can not imagine how rewarding it will feel!!
Have a safe week everyone and work on finding that niche you can contribute to in your town!
Lucky vs. Blessed and Seeing God in Action
My friend Sharon said something one time that has stuck with me. She said she didn’t like when people say their lucky – luck has nothing to do with life. She prefers to say blessed. It’s true so I have tried to adopt that saying as well.
Tonight was such a great night at neXus Church! The ’2nd week once a quarter’ group from Forest Hill is such a hoot to work beside. Members like Brooke and Nancy are so energized and happy. I really believe that their fun fantastic attitude is felt and then shared by the people we serve as they passed thru the dinner line. And throw in regulars like Kat and Don and what a fun night you have of serving! But I almost didn’t take part in it.
I thought there was enough supplies on hand to pass out Help Bags tonight but we were 63 snacks short of the 200 needed. I was a little disappointed but if there had been enough supplies I never would have got to see God’s hand at work tonight in the back serving dinner like I did so I will call that ***blessing #1***. Help Bag hand out being pushed to July 26th was a great thing!!
Blessing #2 came from my church. Several people had donated small hotel shampoo, conditioner, bar soap and a lot of small lotions. There was a hotel comb in there as well. I wasn’t sure that since a lot of homeless or those people in transition don’t have access to daily showers that it wouldn’t be something they could use. Duh – if God provides something I need to not question it. I’m still learning that one! I put a shampoo, conditioner, lotion and bar soap in a sandwich sized Ziploc and had roughly 25 bags. Then I had an extra 20 small hotel lotions as well…and that comb.
When they opened the doors there weren’t a lot of people in there at first so I decided since I didn’t have enough for the estimated 150 expected that night I would go out right then and ask if anyone was interested in a bag of toiletries. Well guess what – they sure did!!! I started to run out and several men approached me to see if I had lotion… ((giggle))) God moment… So I ran out to my car and got the extra bags of lotion. Then as I passed out the last lotion an older man with a scraggly white Santa type beard and long hair pulled me aside and asked if I had a comb because he had lost his 2 weeks ago. I said I sure did and ran out to my car and grabbed the donated hotel comb for him.
Help Bags and working with neXus in general has taught me a lot of things. The most important is stop questioning when weird things happen and just go with it – it’s all for a reason whether you realize it at the time or not.
So here is my challenge for all of you – recognize your God moments this week. We all have them just sometimes we don’t take the time to be still and recognize them.
Have a blessed week everyone and take some time out to just be still : )
What items can I donate to build a Help Bag?
The items in a Help Bag are inexpensive and readily available.
* Individually wrapped snacks. Cracker packs ( like Lance Crackers), cookie packs, 100 calorie packs, anything along those lines. Two are in every Help Bag so a total of 200 of these are needed for 100 Help Bags…aka – can always use some for my stock pile of Lance : ) No chocolate or anything that can melt tho please. : )
* Band-aids. Two boxes of 50 count Band-aids from the Dollar General fills all 100 bags!!
* Moist Towelettes. These have been more difficult to acquire because store to store they appear in completely different aisles. The most common brand is Wet Ones! and I have found coupons for them in the past. Individually wrapped of course : )
* New men’s white socks. They can be used for men or women.
* Tuna. The small tuna cans that can be snap top opened, the envelope type packets, or the crem de la crem- the tuna cracker pillow pack made by Bumble Bee that includes that include crackers and sometimes even a little mandrin orange container!
*Individually wrapped Tylenol type product. I get them at Sam’s – in a box of 50. Two boxes cover all 100 Help Bags.
I would like to get One Day Bus or Train tickets in the next Help Bags if at all possible too.
If you would like to donate any of these items please contact me via the contact area of this site and I will be happy to make pick up arrangements! No item too small or unappreciated!!
Why Help Bags? The extented history of their beginnings…
The homeless epidemic reaches every city no matter where you live. I feel it is human nature to look the other way or even be afraid of people that are not like us.
I had the opportunity to participate in an outreach activity with my church. I had no idea that one night would change the focus of the rest of my life. We attended a service and meal at neXus Church, a church which serves the homeless of inner city Charlotte. I met two men that night that laid on both my conscience and my heart.
One man stood and spoke to the congregation. He spoke of his battles with drug addiction and how he had lost his family and friends, but they never gave up and kept reaching out to him. I was taken back by his candidness and charisma. I would like to share in his honesty. At that point in my life, if had met this same man on the street, dressed as he was, I would have passed him with eyes down. I would never have known the depth and stories his life had. He closed with telling us all he goes to sleep every night under the bridge watching the red light on the top of the Bank of America building blink on and off. For some reason those words haunt me to this day. I can honestly say I have never seen that light blink again without saying a prayer for that man wherever he is today.
We then joined the neXus congregation for a meal. Sunday night services are ended with a free meal for those who receive a ticket at the door before the service. Only a certain number of tickets ( 100-150 ) are passed out and those receiving a ticket get a home cooked type meal from the volunteers in a room right off the sanctuary. Those who do not get a ticket wait for the line to clear and they are fed with whatever is left over.
I didn’t see all the logistics that night. All I saw was a sea of men, women and yes children sitting at tables eating their free meals. Was it their only meal that day? I felt safe and very much led to speak to whomever I came in contact with.
I met the second man who touched my heart at a table in the serving area. I don’t remember his name, but I do very much remember his story. He was in his mid 20′s and as it was February he was in a brown winter jacket. He was all alone at a table and I sat down to talk to him. He said he had been injured in the Army and sent home. He was hoping to return to the military eventually but in the mean time drugs had got the better of his life and his family kicked him out.
My family has taken part in anysoldier.com forever!! It is a website that you sign up to correspond and send items to military personnel deployed overseas. I have made numerous friendships from this site and in my eyes a soldier is nothing short of a hero!! How could this sweet, soft spoken hero be living on the street with nowhere to lay his head at night when just months ago he was risking his life for our families and their freedom! It made me sick to my stomach. I still remember that he ended every sentence with ma’am.
So we left that night – off to our warm homes and blanket filled beds. I was sick to my stomach most of the way home. I cried falling asleep for many nights after. God laid these people on my mind and wasn’t going to let me loose. I followed up with our pastor, Scott Wheeler, and there were no plans to return in the immediate future to neXus. I was afraid to go by myself. I didn’t say anything to him. Instead I prayed every night for those people that we had all met. I felt a deep down need to do something more tho.
I had a hypothetical conversation with my pastor. He is a great man and I believe has a direct link to God’s ear : ) He and his family talk the talk – but the reason we all love them so much is that they walk that walk too!! Our conversation ended in him drawing a graph of ‘skinny moments’.
He explained he felt that the majority of your life you can chose a,b, or c and the end result will be pretty close. But there are those few ‘skinny moments’ where until you choose to go the exact route God wants you to you are at an impasse. It was like a great big old light bulb went off!!
Penny Smullen – the homeless of the area are your skinny moment!!
I called Ruth Exis ( such an amazing woman!!) the next morning and told her I would like to start volunteering. She put me in contact with Kathleen O’Neill, volunteer coordinator. When I say this woman has a yearning in her soul to save the world one person at a time – words just can not describe the good in her heart!! I joke with her but I am truly in awe of her!
And so I began! Every other Sunday I would help serve the meal after the worship service. I felt I was in the right place but that I could do more! And now after a year and half or so Help Bags have begun.
I take donations from friends, family and my church, United Wesleyan Church is a huge contributor! Gallon sized ziploc bags that can be reused for their own personal items are filled with:
2 individually wrapped snacks – like Lance crackers or something along those lines
1 moist towelette – it isnt a shower but it may help
1 individually wrapped packet of a Tylenol type product
2 Band-aids
a pair of mens new white socks
and depending on donation quantities- a pack of easy open tuna
I am also trying to incorporate a one day bus pass in the next bags.
Will any of these items stop hunger or homelessness? Of course not. But do 99% of the people that get one at the door with their ticket on Help Bag pass out day stop and say thank you and smile? Yes they do. It has a few essentials and it may just ‘help’ them thru that day.
To date 200 help Bags have been passed out in Charlotte and I see big things for these little bags in the future!
Thanks for reading – now you know the why and the what! Come join me and meet the who…